Schlumberger says its crew left Horizon day of fire: Schlumberger Ltd, the world's largest oilfield services company, said it's crew on the Deepwater Horizon were sent home without doing testing work, only hours before the explosion and fire that engulfed the rig. (Reuters)

Why Is BP Still In Charge of the Spill Site?: One thing is clear: "All outsider estimates are considerably higher than BP's," he said, adding later that the size of the spill is "fully an order of magnitude higher than what BP projects, without question." (Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones)

Interior Unveils Plan to Split MMS Into 3 Agencies: In response to the Gulf of Mexico disaster, the federal agency that oversees offshore drilling will be split into three divisions to separate its energy development, enforcement and revenue collecting functions. (Greenwire)

...No, the gulf oil spill is not Obama’s Katrina. It’s his 9/11 — and it is disappointing to see him making the same mistake George W. Bush made with his 9/11. Sept. 11, 2001, was one of those rare seismic events that create the possibility to energize the country to do something really important and lasting that is too hard to do in normal times.
...I suggested a $1-a-gallon “Patriot Tax” on gasoline that could have simultaneously reduced our deficit, funded basic science research, diminished our dependence on oil imported from the very countries whose citizens carried out 9/11, strengthened the dollar, stimulated energy efficiency and renewable power and slowed climate change. It was the Texas oilman’s Nixon-to-China moment — and Bush blew it.

Had we done that on the morning of 9/12 — when gasoline averaged $1.66 a gallon — the majority of Americans would have signed on. They wanted to do something to strengthen the country they love. Instead, Bush told a few of us to go to war and the rest of us to go shopping. So today, gasoline costs twice as much at the pump, with most of that increase going to countries hostile to our values...

In the latest chapter of a long-running battle in Louisiana, a trade group which represents oil and chemical companies has teamed up with some state lawmakers to punish Tulane University for the actions of the school's environmental law clinic.
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Some leading legislators also oppose the bill --- Senator Nick Gautreaux even suggested to the Times-Picayune: ""Maybe the attorney general should hire Tulane law students to sue BP. If they can scare the chemical association this bad, then they can scare BP, TransOcean and Halliburton."

Arctic Drilling Proposal Advanced Amid Concern: The approvals also came after many of the agency’s most experienced scientists had left, frustrated that their concerns over environmental threats from drilling had been ignored. (NY Times)